St. Joe’s pads its win streak over Penn in a Friday night Big 5 showdown

In its first Big 5 clash of the season, St. Joseph’s improved its winning streak over Penn to four following a 69-61 win in men’s basketball action inside Hagan Arena on Friday.

With the win, the Hawks (2-0) moved to the top of their bracket for the Big 5 Classic on Dec. 2, which also features Villanova as the third team. St. Joe’s fans also got to see the debut of 7-foot center Christ Essandoko, who returned from a toe injury. Essandoko didn’t disappoint, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes on the floor and also finished with nine points.

“Two days, we talked about earning the Big 5 win with effort and endurance,” said St. Joe’s head coach Billy Lange. “I thought our defensive effort was terrific. They made some incredible shots. We had some breakdowns, but I thought our effort was really good.”

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For the Hawks, junior guards Lynn Greer III and Erik Reynolds II each had 13 points, with Greer adding 11 assists, a career-high. Freshman Xzayvier Brown added eight points off the bench and was 2-for-2 from three-point range. For Penn, senior guard Clark Slajchert kept the Quakers close behind his game-high 27 points. Slajchert was the only Penn player to finish in double digits.

“It had nothing to do with what I was doing,” Greer said postgame. “I was just passing to my teammates and they were just knocking down shots.”

The Hawks led throughout the slow first half. Though they led for the majority of the period, they lost it briefly because of a Penn run highlighted by a three from George Smith at the 10:20 mark.

The Hawks quickly responded with a layup from sophomore Rasheer Fleming to tie the game again, 15-15. A free throw by Kacper Klaczek gave St. Joe’s a lead it would extend to 33-20 by halftime.

Both teams came out for a more aggressive second half, and a 19-2 run from Penn drastically cut the Hawks’ lead to just two with 3:23 remaining. However, Reynolds secured the win for St. Joe’s, scoring four points, included two crucial free throws with under a minute remaining.

The Hawks closed out the first half with an 11-point scoring run. The six minutes of dominant play gave them their 13-point halftime lead, which they then maintained throughout the second half. It was a run that featured four free throws and an assist from Greer in addition to timely free throws from Xzayvier Brown, Cam Brown, and Klaczek.

“I thought our endurance emotionally on their run was great,” Lange said. “That’s what these games require.”

The Hawks will gear up for a home game against Stonehill College on Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN+), as part of the Wildcat Challenge, a three-game round robin St. Joe’s will cap with a showdown against Kentucky on Nov. 20. For Penn, it’s back-to-back games against Big 5 opponents when Villanova heads to the Palestra on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN+).

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